For thousands of years, wind and water have been harnessed as sources of power. In Europe and Asia, for example, wind was a primary source of energy for thousands of years. More recently, much of the world's energy has been derived from fossil fuels. Because more energy could be more efficiently obtained from fossil fuels, they largely supplanted the use of wind and water as power sources. However, in a day where pollution, rising energy costs and depleting resources are among the chief concerns, harnessing water and wind as forms of energy is becoming more economically feasible and more desirable.
Examples of systems adapted for harnessing the energy of wind and water are disclosed in the following patents, which are hereby incorporated by reference for their supporting teachings:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,730,643 to Davison discloses wind power machine in which a plurality of sails connected to an endless chain move about an endless horizontal track to drive an electric generator. Each sail is mounted on an individual truck supported on the track. The endless track is arranged as two spaced apart parallel runs connected by semi-circular end sections. Each sail is rotatable about a vertical pivot on its truck and is controllable so that the sails can be positioned to drive the machine while moving along one run of the track and to be positioned to offer the least wind resistance while moving in the reverse direction along the other run of the track. Depending upon the direction of the wind the sails in most instances can be adjusted to provide drive along both runs of the track. The sails are adjusted by an electric motor drive controlled by a wind vane. In a modified control system an anemometer is provided to over ride the wind vane control, to align the sails with the wind to present the least resistance to the wind when the wind power machine is subjected to winds of damaging force.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,163,905 to Davison discloses a submerged water power machine in which a plurality of vertical blades are connected to two endless chains, one located at the top ends and the other located at the bottom ends of the blades. The blades drive the chains about two endless horizontal tracks, and the chains are drivingly coupled to electric generators. Each blade is mounted on an individual truck supported on the top track and is guided at its bottom by a roller within the bottom track. The endless tracks are arranged as two spaced-apart parallel runs connected by semi-circular end sections. Each blade is adjustable about vertical pivot means on its truck and is controllable so that the blades can be positioned to drive the machine while moving along both runs of the tracks. The blades are adjusted either by electric servo motor drive means controlled by a position programmer or by followers carried by the blades and engaging cam tracks. The trucks, top chain and blade-positioning control elements are contained in a pressurized inverted cup-hole housing so that these parts operate in air rather than water. Over this housing is a flotation air compartment containing the generators. Tether lines are employed to anchor the machine to the ocean floor. The blades are spaced far enough apart to allow a portion of the water to flow past the first row of blades into the path of the second row of blades, with the blades of both rows oriented to develop driving force on the chains in the same direction of chain travel.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,344 to Davison discloses a novel wind or water powered generator apparatus is provided for generating substantial quantities of electricity. The apparatus includes a plurality of sail-driven cars connected to form a continuous chain and suspended from a monorail loop. The car suspension system has two horizontal guide wheels and one vertical carrier wheel. Substantially the entire weight of each car is carried by its vertical wheel, which is located near the car's center of gravity. Further, all three suspension wheels are located inside the monorail, thereby rendering car derailment virtually impossible. Two sails are attached to each car, one being directed upwardly and the other being directed downwardly. The surface areas of the two sails are such that the average, total current force on each sail is approximately the same. Additionally, the novel sails are free to rotate 360 degrees about their support poles, but they are biased to a preferred orientation. Thus, as the current and biasing forces interact, the cars are propelled along the monorail. Importantly, in the event that destructive strength currents arise, the sails rapidly align themselves with the current, thereby preventing sail destruction. One or more elongated augers are positioned adjacent the monorail loop. Auger drive rollers are attached to each car such that the adjacently moving cars rotate the auger. A generator is connected to the augers so as to be driven thereby.
While the foregoing prior art references demonstrate improvement in the field of power generation, each of these prior art references have proven inadequate in several respects. First, in a monorail loop generation system, it is advantageous to minimize the mass of the vane/car assembly. If these assemblies have large mass, much of the wind's energy is being utilized in overcoming friction between the assemblies and the rail. In contrast, if the vane/car assembly has relatively small mass, it can be more readily moved by the wind. This movement may then be used to generate energy.
Additional concerns related to the mass of the vane/car assemblies are expense of materials. For obvious reasons, the more materials that are required in constructing a power generation system, the more uneconomical the system becomes.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to have a power generation system that reduced the overall mass of the vane/car assembly, while providing the environmental and economical advantages of wind and water as sources of energy.